a different sort of writing contest . . . molto differente

Tomorrow marks the start of one of my two favorite writing contests in the world (the other being the nine-round Helen Whittaker fiction contest which I wrote about earlier).

This one is called #Operaplot. It's a contest solely administered on Twitter. So, you guessed it. Contest entries have to be 140 characters or less while including #operaplot.

In my other life, I host an opera blog called "Operatoonity." I also review live opera productions for Bachtrack. I have this whole other dimension to my writing life that revolves around opera.

The reason I like #operaplot so much is that, like the novel I wrote with an opera backdrop, is that the entries are very clever and though the international opera community takes the contest seriously, they don't in fact take opera that seriously. They poke fun at the masterworks and at themselves.

Sometimes I think opera fans are their own worst enemies. They run down anyone or anything who tries to be different or doesn't fit their narrow parameters of opera or opera singers. For instance, the little girl who won second place in America's Got Talent, Jackie Evancho, should have been embraced by the opera community since the American public can't and probably never will embrace opera as an art form. Instead, they were very vocal in criticizing her for taking on too mature of a work at such a young age, and it was going to ruin her voice, and. . . and . . .. I found the whole dialogue nauseating.

Because my book is a romp based on a small-town opera guild producing Don Giovanni, I welcome any initiative that embraces opera and humor.

All the #operaplot tweets go live tomorrow at 9 a.m. EDT until midnight on Friday. Nearly 30 opera houses have donated prizes. Winners will be selected by Eric Owens, a bass baritone and professional opera singer.

It would be fun to win, but if you are writer, then you know the real fun is in the writing.

If you are on Twitter, why not search #operaplot and read the entries this week? You will be surprised at how funny and clever they are. If you think about it, it takes ten minutes and two arias for someone to die in an opera, yet the contest mandates that you describe an entire opera in 140 characters or less. That's what makes this contest extraordinary.


The boyfriends in Cosi, in disguise

 Here is one of my entries for a comic opera by Mozart called Cosi Fan Tutte:

Here’s a story di due donne. Boyfrenzi no trusta, not a lick. So, dey getta 2 mustaches. Duets great but silly plotta make asick. #operaplot

(Due donne is Italian for "two women"; Boyfrenzi is my made up word for "the boyfriends"-- and the Italian goes (further) downhill from there Mozart wrote most of his operas in Italian.)

Did you catch the trope I used for the plot--"The Brady Bunch" theme song? Too subtle?

Well, the contest goes on all week long. I can submit up to 25 plots. I wrote ten already.

If you think you want to try #operaplot, you have to be on Twitter and Tweet with some frequency for the #operaplot hashtag to register. So get a bunch of practice Tweets to prime your Twitter account.

Doesn't this sound like a fun contest? Hope to see you there!

Need to nudge your shorts? Here's the best writing contest around . . .

Don't ask me how I stumbled onto the Helen Whittaker Prize writing contest three years ago because I can't tell you. What I can tell you is that if you need to create more pieces to submit (short fiction and/or poetry), you won't find a better impetus than the Whittaker Prize sponsored by The Write Idea Forum.

Now I always entered the fiction category only. Some writers do both. Since the contest lasts for nine--count 'em--nine rounds and because I am not a poet, not even in my mind, I've only entered the short fiction category twice--in 2008 and 2010. If I could have entered in 2009, I would have, but I was in the thick of my MA in Creative Writing classes and couldn't squeeze it in.

What's so special about the Helen Whittaker Prize?

The fact that it is a long-running competition makes it exceptionally meaningful and engaging compared to one-off contests, even annual one-offs. This contest consists of nine rounds, each lasting two weeks, from March 12, 2011 through July 16, 2011. Each round you compete against the same slate of writers for the top spot. Each round someone emerges a winner. So, you may not win the whole schmear, but let me tell you from experience, winning a round is a BFD!  If you enter all nine rounds, you’ll have nine new pieces of writing in your back pocket by the middle of the summer.

I've had the privilege of competing with many of the same writers for two years now, and you won't find a more capable group of people who are surprisingly supportive, mature, and fair-minded for writers competing against one another regularly. They are also a very accomplished lot, publishing their stories, books, and in anthologies left and right. I feel as though I've made a lot of worthwhile friends in the writing world because of this competition while improving my ability to write shorts. Not to mention, you find out what you're made of--as a writer, as a person. This contest has allowed me to grow in both areas.

What really defines the Whittaker Prize contest, however, are The Write Idea site adminstrators, Donna Gagnon and Doug Pugh. They are hard-working and responsive. They are consummate professionals though running this contest hardly constitutes their livelihood. They do it because they are interested in preserving and growing a strong writing community. And on top of all that, they pat you on the back if you deserve and hold your hand if you need it (writerly egos and all that).

How to sign up and other details...

The competition is open to anyone over the age of 18 who writes fiction or poetry in English. There are two categories: fiction and poetry. Writers may enter one category or both categories. Anyone wishing to participate in this competition must currently be a member of TWI or register and be accepted as a member of the forum but it costs nothing to register for the site.

There is an entry fee of $30 CDN. Writers may enter BOTH categories for a fee of $50 CDN. Fees may be paid via PayPal to donnagee at vianet.ca or email donnagee at vianet.ca to make other arrangements (i.e. cheque or money order).  What it boils down to is $3.33 per round, which isn't much considering that it involves a good deal of administration and that any judges worth their salt merit reasonable compensation.

Who are the fiction judges?

Donna's outdone herself this year obtaining capable judges. They are:
EVA STACHNIAK was born in Wroclaw, Poland, and arrived in Canada in 1981 on an English scholarship to McGill University. Her first short story, "Marble Heroes," was published by the Antigonish Review in 1994.

Her debut novel Necessary Lies (Dundurn 2000) tells an immigrant’s story of national and personal betrayals, silences and lies. Its characters – caught in the web of love and betrayals – grapple with their dramatic past that takes them from Nazi Germany and Communist Poland to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the first years of democracy in the former Eastern Europe. It was first published in Toronto in 2000 (winning Amazon.com/Books in Canada First Novel Award) and in Poland as Konieczne Kłamstwa (WKTS 2004). Her second novel Garden Of Venus (Harper Collins 2005) re-tells a story of an extraordinary woman, Sophie Potocka, courtesan, courtier, countess, and confidante to tsars, queens and kings in late 18th century Europe. The novel has appeared in Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand, Greece, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Serbia, Ukraine and Poland. In September of 2011 Doubleday Canada and Bantam Books USA will publish her third novel, The Winter Palace, which takes place in 18th century Russia and is based on the life of Catherine the Great.

Eva lives in Toronto. More information at http://www.evastachniak.com

WILLIAM MEIKLE is a Scottish writer now living in Canada with ten novels published in the genre press and over 200 short story credits in 13 countries and eight languages.

He is the author of the ongoing Midnight Eye series among others, and his work appears in many magazines, newspapers and professional anthologies. His ebook THE INVASION reached #2 in the Kindle SF charts.

He lives in a remote corner of Newfoundland with icebergs, whales and bald eagles for company. In the winters he gets warm vicariously through the lives of others in cyberspace, so please check him out at http://www.williammeikle.com.

Is it hard work? Yes! Is it worth it? Yes!  Hope to see you there.